Good performances by junior Harriers at National Young Athletes League on June 3^rd 2007

The 3^rd fixture of the National Young Athletes League fixture held at Yeovil Arena last Sunday saw some excellent performances by the Harriers in the joint team with Yeovil Olympiads, Taunton and Mendip clubs. Many of the juniors achieved personal bests and moved up the regional and national rankings.

In the u’13 girls’ age group Roo Black achieved a personal best when she cleared 1.36m in the High jump. Roo was 2^nd overall on count back and has continued to get better with every one of her competition efforts so far this summer. This height will undoubtedly move her up the regional ‘power of 10’ rankings where before the day she was in 6^th place with a 1.30m height from the County Championships. In the same event Emily Smith started her afternoon’s athletics with a solid 1.20m for 1^st place in the B string and achieved valuable team points by doing so well. Emily then went on to record a 2^nd in the 70m Hurdles in a time of 14.9 which was a full half second quicker than she had run before, and a 3^rd place in the 800m in a swift 2.46.9, some 5 seconds quicker than before.

In the u’13 boys Will Norris also achieved a personal best with his 2.33.6 for 800m that was good enough for 2^nd place. Will came off the last bend chasing down the eventual winner and took almost a second off his pb. This time cements him in the top 15 boys at this event within the region. He then went on to contest the Long jump and was 2^nd in the B string with his best leap of the day of 3.95m, another personal best, and again in the top 20 for the region.

In the u’15 age groups pick of the athletes was the performances by Kimberley Bartlett in a closely contested discus where she finished 3^rd in 13.07m, behind a winning throw of 15.2m, and 2^nd in the javelin with 11.55m. For the boys Reuben Whitcombe enjoyed his successful debut for the team with his 1500m race where he finished 1^st for the B string with his 5.25.8. In the u’17 Women’s events Natalie Parker ran 13.7 for the 80m hurdles. The joint team currently lies in about mid-table in the League and we await confirmation of the match positions..